Zambia: Water from the sun

Anolaska from Zambia, her family, and her whole community are benefitting in loads of ways from a solar-powered water pump installed by CAFOD partners – find out more!…

Anolaska is shown here carrying water from the new solar-powered water pump to her home nearby.

Before the new pump was installed by CAFOD partner in Monze, she had to walk for hours to fetch water and carry the heavy load back.

It is traditionally the children’s job to get water and they often used to be late for school when it was so far away.

Now that the water is close to home, there’s no excuse for lateness!

Sebastian is the caretaker of the solar panel and cleans it regularly. He has eight children. “It’s hard to afford clothes, kitchen utensils and farming tools. We go once a year to Monze (the main town) by bicycle. We buy clothes for the children, soap and salt. Sometimes we have to go for three or four months without soap,” he says.

Anolaska’s sister, Odetta (9), enjoys drinking the water now the supply is so nearby. “It’s good having the water supply near my house – I used to have to travel a long way to get it so now I’m really happy to have it.”

Children in the village don’t have a school building but go to the village ‘radio school’ outside. Lessons are broadcast from a local community radio station via the school’s radio and take place outside under a tree.

Learning maths at the school. John, the school chairman, says that in the future they want to build a ‘proper’ school for the village children. “We’ve already started making bricks and getting sand and crushing stones to build it” he says.

Recently harvested sweet potatoes, grown with the help of the new water supply. The sweet potato is widely grown in Zambia and is often added to stews or mashed up and used to make sweet potato pudding

Anolaska’s family outside their home. Her Dad, Elisias, says “We now grow cotton, pumpkins and peanuts. I’m very hopeful that the irrigation project means we won’t suffer as we did in previous years.”